Recipe: Chocolate Pudding

Today's recipe is basically a Danette's chocolate pudding cup. I don't even need to say more because.
in all seriousness, let's look at the ingredients of a Danette's cup:  

Concentrated whole milk or skimmed milk powder (79.4%)

Sugar

Cocoa fat

2% chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, lean cocoa powder, emulsifier: soya lecithin, flavoring: vanillin)

Thickeners: E 1442 (modified starch) and E 407 (carrageenan)

Lactose

In other, simple words, yuck. Don't get me wrong I think they taste great, only they are clearly not good for me, or you.

so ladies and gents, ditch your Danette cups and make these. They're nutritious and delicious!

Chocolate Pudding

makes 1 generous serving or 2 small cups.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk (You can sub: almond/soy/coconut..etc.)
• 2 tbsp good quality dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)
• 2 tbsp flour (I tried it with all purpose and whole wheat. Oat flour would work too, but I'm not sure about the rest)
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules (i.e. Nescafe)
• 1 dark chocolate square (optional)

Directions:

• In a heavy sauce pan, mix your flour, cocoa powder and instant coffee.
• Add milk over medium-low heat (take care because it can easily burn). Act as if your life depends on this arm workout...yeah, whisk really well till all the lumps disappear.
• Keep stirring with a wooden spoon till your pudding thickens, then add the honey, vanilla extract and chocolate (if using).
• You'll know it's done when it gets thick and starts to bubble, remove from heat and pour into a ramekin/mug. It will be pourable at this stage but it will set when you chill it in the fridge for about an hour (I like mine refrigerated overnight).
• Top with grated chocolate, fruits, chopped nuts, nut butters or eat it as it is; the possibilities are endless.
• Enjoy your treat!

Recipe: THE Salad

I'm fairly certain you know for a fact that you need to eat your rainbows. Unless you were living under a rock, then that's another problem. Anyway, now you do!
Generally, It's recommended to consume 2-3 cups of veggies a day, do I need to mention that raw greens are always better because the process of cooking vegetables causes the loss of some of their nutrients? I just did.
I guess that's where salads and green smoothies come to play, and I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of drinking my meals. Enter THE salad.

I have this salad everyday. Yes, you read correctly, and I don't even have it for lunch, I have as a part of said lunch. Lunch is our largest meal in Egypt, and dinner is an optional light snack before bed. In other *ahem* eloquent words: I totally inhale a ginormous amount of food at lunchtime.

It's very forgiving, filling and versatile with a light dressing. You can also substitute to your heart's content and add whatever you have on hand like kale, baby spinach, arugula..etc.
It's a match made in my kitchen heaven.

THE Salad
Serves 1-2.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium tomato
• 1 cucumber
• 1 carrot
• 2 onion slices
• 1/4 cup diced green, red and yellow sweet pepper
• 2 red and green cabbage leaves
• 2 outer romaine lettuce leaves
• 1/4 cup cottage cheese (or feta)
• A dash of Za'atar (or thyme) and dried mint
• A pinch of ground cumin and black pepper 

Process:
Chop. Mix. Sprinkle your cheese and spices on top. 

Dressing:
Add 1-2 tablespoon of olive oil in a small bowl, add a splash of balsamic/apple cider/white vinegar and mix vigorously with a fork. Pour over your salad. Nom.

The H Word

According to the Oxford Dictionary:
Health·y (adj.): In a good physical or mental condition; in good health.

Now, if you ask a vegetarian what they think a healthy diet is, they'd tell you it's a diet that's full of veggies, grains and animal by-products, and they'd also tell you that meat is unhealthy. If you ask a vegan, they'd only portray grains and veggies as healthy; meat and animal by-products would be the enemy here. If you ask someone who's Paleo, they'd tell you that grains are the devil, and meat is the way to go. If you ask your average dieting women, chances are one would demonize fat and praise 'good' complex carbs while the other would tell you that fats are good for you but carbs are definitely not.  if you ask a body builder for example they'd only have one word for you: Protein.

When I first started 'getting healthy' it wasn't, in fact about health at all. I wanted to lose the weight and I was not informed, I had the common impression that fat is bad and low calorie = healthy. I wanted to lose the weight full stop, and fast forward a couple of months into my journey, I loved feeling fit and strong...I seriously wanted to be healthy. However, I had really distorted views about what that word meant. Granted, I did lose the weight at first, but my hormonal profile was out of whack and I was almost orthorexic. Orthorexia Nervosa is when you take it too far, shunning food you deem as unhealthy and developing real stress over what you should or shouldn't eat. So, it's basically an eating disorder. I avoided some foods like the plague just because they were high calorie and/or unhealthy. I'm not particularly proud about it, but it has shaped my balanced views today.
I truly believe now, after so many episodes of trial and error, that healthy is what makes you thrive overall...your sweet spot. For example, what makes me thrive is real food. A.k.a nutrients found in grains, meat, fruits and veggies. I also eat dessert almost everyday.
Is my diet 100% 'clean'? God, no. I don't want it to be. I'd be miserable and miserable is unhealthy for my brain. I don't do heavily processed foods though (ex. fast food). I don't demonize it in my head but I find that a. It makes me feel like crap. b. It's not worth the calories. What I'm trying to say here, if Paleo/veganism/vegetarianism/low sugar/etc. makes your body feel good and you can sustain this lifestyle, then it's healthy for you, It doesn't mean it's healthy for me or for other people. If you eat real food 80% of the time: junk 20% of the time and you feel just fine there's no reason why your diet isn't considered healthy. The 100% mentality is just as bad as the 0% mentality.
I need to point out the following though:

• Whenever you can, try to eliminate or reduce heavily processed food; because they aren't really foods, they're more like chemicals that wreak havoc in your system.
• Low calorie food does not, absolutely, mean that said food is healthy. In fact, if you look at the nutritional label of full fat yogurt and fat free/low fat yogurt, you'd find that the fat free/low fat is high in sugar and has a chemical shit storm to make up for the nonexistent/reduced fat. On the contrary avocados and nuts are really high in fat and calories but they're extremely good for you nutritionally, so don't get caught up in the low calorie craze and instead, learn to control your portions.
• Opt for organic fruits and veggies if you can afford them, I sadly can't, especially that they're not widely available in Egypt but if you can avoid the pesticides and chemicals your body would be grateful.
• Complex carbs are much much better for you than bleached white carbs that are stripped from nutrients and spike your blood sugar, notice that doesn't mean that they are lower in calories, they're just nutritionally better for you. 

Food and exercise, like everything in life, are to be enjoyed. They're not chores and certainly not what life is all about. The right amount and quality of food coupled with activity can honestly change your life.

Moderation is sexy. I promise.

Getting Started

For starters, you only need to know three basic things about me:

1. I've been a fat kid, teen and adult a.k.a. my entire life.
2. I live in Egypt.
3. Last year, I got to change #1.

I'm really passionate about nutrition and fitness because I pretty much owe them my life now. I believe in health, both mental and physical. The Egyptian cuisine and street food isn't *particularly* fattening to be honest as it's mainly vegetarian and unlike the US for example we still cook most our food from scratch. However, our culture revolves entirely around food; you can't go out and have fun unless you're eating junk with your friends, you can't visit your family without your relatives force feeding you heaps of food and you certainly can't find one square meter without at least 2 kiosks and 3-4 fast food outlets not to mention the multiple cafes/bakeries. This is probably a very good time to mention the mind-bending concept of 'Delivery', I don't know about all of your countries guys, but every single restaurant and fast food outlet in Egypt delivers. I'm not talking about your local pizza place; think burgers, pizza, pasta, sandwiches, cinnabons...any.thing. even soda and candy from supermarkets. All are just one phone call away.
Try to couple that with non-existent exercise and you get yourself a fat population.

It's twice as hard when you decide to be healthier, try telling your aunt that you can't eat her koshari because you want to be healthy. I dare you. I double dare you.
you'll be ridiculed and you'll eat twice the amount you were going to eat anyway and everybody will make sure of it. Hell, try telling your mom that you're not going to eat her labor of love a.k.a meal of the day/week and you'll be emotionally abused to no avail. Try going out with your friends without eating, or worse, try to find a healthier place and order a 'healthier' dish and get ready for the misery that will ensue. (It will, I promise).

It is a real struggle to be on top of your game when socially, everything around you is about food and portrayed to embody love, care and celebration. This was not a big problem for me though because I was never really keen about the Egyptian cuisine. My diet's pyramid was only acquainted with 5 kinds of food: Fast food (read: McDonald's), pasta, french fries, pizza and junk (read: chips, soda and candy). I rarely ate meat/chicken/fish and let's just not mention salads, that would have been an offense.
but it is a struggle now that I've lost most of the weight. Because health needs dedication and support from your surroundings, and when you dedicate yourself to something, you need to balance it out or it consumes you.

And here I am,on a quest to maintain all the healthy habits without overpowering myself.

Fun Fact: The name of the blog is some sort of an analogy because when I was fat, I used to eat french fries nearly everyday. I remember I used to think I could live off them for the rest of my life, funny thing is when I nearly eliminated deep fried food from my diet I stopped craving them completely, and moved on to their next of kin; the cute sweet potatoes. We call them 'batata' in Egypt and the roasted variety (batata mashweyya) is actually a street food where you'd usually find the guy who sells them pushing a cart that has a small coal-fired oven on it. They're heavenly and healthy and that's why the analogy makes perfect sense (at least for me?).

So, what to expect?
Stories, recipes, information and journals. I'll try not to suck at this butican'tguaranteeit.